Mike Castle: I'll Win, But "It Won’t Be An Overwhelming Victory"

Castle, who says he's pro-choice on abortion during the first 12 weeks of gestation, said he "absolutely" still supports federal funding for embryonic stem-cell research. But he opposes partial-birth abortion and taxpayer funding of abortion. Of course, one of the most important issues for abortion opponents (and other conservatives) is the Supreme Court. In 2006, both of Delaware's Democratic senators voted against confirming Samuel Alito (as did just one Republican, Lincoln Chafee of Rhode Island).

Although moderate Republicans like Kirk and Brown said on the campaign trail they would have voted to confirm Alito had they been in the Senate, Castle would only strongly hint that he would have done so:

It’s hard for me to give you a complete answer to that because I haven’t studied it that carefully. But, having said that, what I’ve read about Alito--I haven’t read his decisions--but what I know about him is that he’s a very competent judge and he’s very well-reasoned in his legal rationale. I would be inclined to be supportive of him, just based on what I know at this point. Sitting in the House, I haven’t sat down and studied him and made a decision on whether I’ll vote yes or no.

And Castle said of Obama's most recent Supreme Court nominee, Elena Kagan:

I’ve studied her even less than I did Alito, and you know, I have no great thoughts on that. I mean, she appears on the face of it to be qualified from a legal point of view, I did think she is ideologically a little bit more to the left perhaps than you would want a judge to be. You would want a judge to be in the middle if you can. That worries me a little bit.

Castle could probably be more conservative than he is and still get elected. But he is who he is. And he can win. And he would vote with conservatives more often than liberal Democrat Chris Coons would.

Will that be enough for Delaware Republicans? Or will they prefer Christine O'Donnell, who is ideologically pure but has trouble telling the truth, and will almost certainly lose the general election according to the polls?